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Hands on with Cadillac CUE

We just wrapped up our first hands-on with Cadillac CUE, the luxury automaker's attempt at a modern, fully-integrated infotainment system for the upcoming XTS, ATS and refreshed SRX.

First impressions are favorable, although in its current form the system is still very beta in both execution and response. However, the core tenants of the system – a capacitive screen with multitouch control and proximity sensors, capacitive center stack buttons and a configurable instrument panel – are all functional and incredibly slick, despite some slow responses and awkward transitions.

Cadillac's electronics and HMI team have been working on CUE for the better part of four years and their efforts show. And with daily builds of the system being developed and deployed, they're well on their way to having the system ready for prime time when the XTS arrives early next year. Get a taste of CUE in action in the video after the jump and look for an animated cameo of the XTS towards the end.

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Automakers are getting into uncomfortable territory with display systems like this. I'm interested to see how reliable and crash resistant (as in computer crash, not car crash) these will be. I've been in IT for 10 years, and I can tell you this; when i drive, I want to drive, not fiddle with gadgets. I hope Gm locks this down so that you can't change your gauge layouts while driving, even if for no other reason than to avoid the inevitable lawsuits.

There's a lot of visual acreage and yet the info or control itself is a tiny portion of the screen. This is a device that is supposed to be designed for use by a driver, while driving? No-one yet has made a touchscreen that can replicate what I can do now, which is to reach for my volume button or A/C control or radio station without looking away from the road. Because they are knobs.

If you can't work a phone in 2012 then don;t get this system. If you can then this will be second nature and the most advanced in the industry. If it were from Benz the trolls would be happy but since America made it they hate it. Oh and no this is not more difficult than Fords Sync.

That is either the ATS or SRX interior, not XTS. If you look at the other CUE presentation of the XTS interior you'll see it's signature wide horizontal air vents above the system, (like the concept). This vid shows SRX style vertical vents. Though I suppose this is a early demo model and could have the incorrect car show on the gauge cluster display.

Nope, it's the XTS. The gauge cluster and center stack are virtually identical to the concept's, and it's not that difficult to change the placement of the air vents. And speaking of the XTS, Cadillac posted a pic of the production version on their home page...
http://www.cadillac.com/flash.html
P.S. - It's the second image in the flash banner.

Make the center console buttons real, not capacitive.
The all caps labeling for icons make it look like cheap crap. All caps is a lousy way to get readability. If you are worried about your typeface being readable, change your typeface, don't use all caps.
I'm worried about visibility in the sun. This video already shows some legibility problems with the instrument cluster and it is indoors. The sun is 10x brighter than even the brightest indoor environment, what's going to happen outdoors?
Additionally, Cadillac will need some serious tech in here, like those cameras on the front wheel wells that show video left and right at a stopsign. They'll need to figure out how to get those cameras to show in the cluster in each of the 4 modes they support. Seems like a lot of work.
Finally, get the bugs out. You saw what happened to Ford, people are not going to understand if you release it lousy and try to fix it later.
Don't blow this Cadillac, this has to get a lot better before it hits the road.

That demonstration is done on a styling buck so it's getting a lot of light from overhead and probably behind. Might be a problem in a convertible but not in a sedan and of course they'll make sure it works in all lighting conditions. Screens have come a long way, just look at most smart phones and tablets.

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So put it in simple mode. None of this stuff keeps you from paying attention the road, you are the one who decides whether to pay attention to the road or not.
In the end, this technology allows a lot more functionality and at a much lower cost than current arrays of buttons and gauges, so it's going to be here whether you want to jump in or not.

I'd like to think, and would wager, that the vast majority of people will actually be paying attention to the road whilst driving rather than configuring their vehicle. Additionally, I'm sure GM's lawyers have already thought of this and the company will ore than likely lock the owenr out of certain functions whilst the car is in drive.
That said, I knew someone would complain about the tech and all I really have to say is get used to it. Technology advances and this is just another strp forward. Heck, just look at the tech found in a car today and compare it to those of the early 90's.